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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

TLC.O.885

18 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

Fourteenth Day.

May 1907.

NATURALIZATION. (Mr. Brodeur.)

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right to legislate and do what they like. I am afraid this clause will have the effect of preventing the Colonies from legislating on the question. That is the only objection I see to the Bill which is going to be introduced.

Mr. DEAKIN Generally the Bill appears to us to be a good one, and would certainly be of assistance in clearing up ambiguities which at present exist in the law. One point I may mention without entering into detail is that if clause 12 were assimilated to clause S, so that it might be acted upon without assigning any reason, that would be of advantage.

The naturalization question has few difficulties in Australia, except in regard to the admission of coloured races, and particularly coloured aliens. It is due to that apprehension that we have been and shall continue to be vigilant in guarding a possible use of this Bill. As, however, it does not appear in any way to impair the scope of our Immigration Acts, under which the education test is applied at discretion, this particular measure is not open to the objection that it weakens the force of those statutes. Under these circumstances we look forward with some expectancy to the passing of the Bill as likely to be of value to ourselves as well as to other Colonies

General BOTIIA: I will ask for my memorandum to be read now.

The memorandum was read as follows

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"(1.) It is desired that an alien naturalized in any portion of His Majesty's Dominions should have to all intents and purposes, as from the date of his naturalization, the status of a natural born British subject not only within the ambit of the law under which letters of naturalization are issued to him, but everywhere, except when the naturalized person is actually within the country of which, at the time of naturalization he was, and of which he still remains a subject.

"(2.) In order to carry out this object a Bill has been drafted under the instructions of the Secretary of State for the Colonies consolidating and amending the enactments of the Imperial Parliament relating to aliens and naturalization. A copy of this Bill is included among the papers on the subject of naturalization sent to each of the Colonial Premiers.

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(3.) The proceedure laid down in section 26 of that Bill for conferring on an alien naturalized in a British possession outside the United Kingdom the status of a British subject everywhere, is not satisfactory.

"(4.) It has been suggested that the Imperial Act relating to the naturalization of aliens should be so amended as to apply to every portion of His Majesty's Dominious. The objection to this suggestion is that it not desirable that legislation should be imposed on a self-governing Colony except by the Parliaïnent of such Colony.

"(5.) The difficulty can be overcome by providing in the Imperial Act that so much of it as relates to the naturalization of aliens, their status when naturalized, as also the status of their wives and children may be put in force mutatis mutundis in any portion of His Majesty's Dominions, by a proclaina- tion of the Governor thereof. In a self-governing Colony such proclamation would only be issued by the Governor on the advice of the responsible Ministers of such Colony. The clauses of the draft Bill which would be put in force under the proclamation would be sections 7 to 17 inclusive, section 18 (with the exception of subsections (2), (3), and (8)) and sections 20, 21, 24, and 25.

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‘(6) The Imperial Act must provide that the proclamation aforementioned. Fourteenth Day. shall name the authority to whom application shall be made for certificates of 9 May 1907. naturalization, and by whom they shall be issued, and that the powers and

NATURALIZATION. duties conferred under the Act on the Secretary of State shall be exercised by the said authority. It should also provide that a certificate of naturalization (General Botha.) issued by such authority shall have effect, to all intents and purposes, as if it were a certificate granted by the Secretary of State, under the Imperial Act.

"(7.) The following provisions in the draft Bill should, however, be amended before it can be accepted by some of the self-governing Colonies :— “(A.) The Bill, as drafted, applies to aliens of non-European descent equally with those of European birth or descent. In some of the self-governing Colonies (Natal for example) local naturalization is granted only to Europeans, and it is unlikely, therefore that any such Colony will agree to recognise as a British subject any coloured person coming to reside therein, who has been naturalized in some other portion of His Majesty's Dominions where no colour distinction is made. On the other hand, the Imperial Parliament may strongly object to making any such distinction in any naturalization law submitted to it, especially seeing that no such distinction is made in the present Imperial Act of 1870, under which it may be urged that a person naturalized within the United Kingdom is a British subject in whatever part of His Majesty's Dominions he may take up his residence. This difficulty may be overcome by providing that a certificate of naturalization granted in any Colony in which the Imperial Act has been put in force in mauner prescribed in the last preceding subsection shall have effect beyond the borders of such Colony only when granted to a person of European birth or descent. By such a provision one Colony would not be bound to admit as British subjects persons of non-European descent naturalized in some other Colony under the provisions of the Imperial Act put in force in such other Colony as prescribed in the last preceding subsection. Notwithstanding such a provision, a coloured person naturalized in the United Kingdom could be a British subject in whatever part of His Majesty's Dominions he may take up his residence. It is difficult to see how this can be avoided in view of the fact that such is the position under the present Imperial Act, which has been operative since 1870. In section 9 of the Draft Bill, the words 'except as otherwise provided by law' shall be inserted after the word 'shall' in the first line of that clause 30, so as to make it quite clear that a coloured person, naturalized in England, although a British subject everywhere, would, on taking up his residence in any Colony, be subject to the same political and other disabilities as are imposed by the law of that colony on coloured persons, even though they may be British subjects.

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"(B) Section 7 of the Draft Bill provides as a condition precedent to the issue of certificates of naturalization that the applicant for them should have, within a certain limited time, resided in his Majesty's Dominions for a period of not less than five years. It would be better to insist that for one of those years, namely, for the twelve months immediately preceding his application, he should have resided within that portion of his Majesty's Dominions in which his application is made. This would give the authority in whom is vested the discretion of issuing certificates of naturalization, a better opportunity of exercising

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